It is known to provide a vehicle, such as a public bus or a motor coach, with seats that can be moved to provide an open space, for example, for securing a mobility aid in the vehicle. These seats are often provided with supporting pedestals that are mounted on rails so they can be moved along the rails between positions that accommodate ambulatory passengers and positions that provide space for securing a mobility aid.
A known type of rail provides a slot that receives a portion of a pedestal to allow the seats to move along the rails by sliding. A problem frequently encountered with these rails is their tendency to accumulate debris through the slots. This accumulated debris must be removed regularly by maintenance personnel to prevent a build-up of debris that would interfere with easy movement of the seats. Such maintenance can be costly. In addition, the open slot can present an annoyance to persons wearing high-heeled shoes or even a danger under certain circumstances. Accordingly, it has been proposed to provide the movable seats with track covers that move with the seats to maintain the track covered as the seats are moved to deployed or stored positions.
Known systems that provide movable track covers can be effective if the distances by which the seats must move are restricted. In a common situation, however, the seats must be moved by distances to place seats quite close to each other. This is especially the case in a vehicle that requires the seats to be moved to positions that can accommodate a mobility aid. In this case the seats must be moved closer to each other than they are when in the positions that accommodate ambulatory passengers. But, when the seats with movable track covers move on the same tracks, the minimum distance between seats is the sum of the lengths of the movable track covers. One proposed solution has been to provide two sets of parallel tracks, with the two sets offset laterally from each other so that the seats and the movable track covers are on separate tracks. In this arrangement, the distance by which one set of seats and its accompanying track covers can move is not affected by the second set of track covers because they are on the adjacent set of tracks. While this system has been successful, it can be more difficult to retrofit into existing systems.